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Putting money aside for Geocaching Maine

Here is something I brought up to the Geocaching Maine advisory board and they all agreed that it should be brought up to the members of Geocaching Maine.

I was thinking since we do not charge dues or have any overhead right now for Geocaching Maine that it might be an idea to try to accumulate a little money to put aside for some special things we may want to do in the future. I figured the money would not be used for putting together any personally events or for the web site. It would be for special things in the future. An example would be something like having a Geocaching Maine banner or something like that made up, I am not saying we need a banner but I just used that as a sample. I am sure there are other things we may need money for at a future date.

I think a good start would be to add $1 to the price of the upcoming Maine geocoins. I think $1 is a fair price to ask. This would put $1 for every coin we sold into the bank for us later. This is just an idea. I would like to here what everyone else thinks about this without getting into the details of the bank account and all that. I just wanted to see if I could get people to understand where I am coming from and maybe agree with me.

Here is something I brought up to the Geocaching Maine advisory board and they all agreed that it should be brought up to the members of Geocaching Maine.

I was thinking since we do not charge dues or have any overhead right now for Geocaching Maine that it might be an idea to try to accumulate a little money to put aside for some special things we may want to do in the future. I figured the money would not be used for putting together any personally events or for the web site. It would be for special things in the future. An example would be something like having a Geocaching Maine banner or something like that made up, I am not saying we need a banner but I just used that as a sample. I am sure there are other things we may need money for at a future date.

I think a good start would be to add $1 to the price of the upcoming Maine geocoins. I think $1 is a fair price to ask. This would put $1 for every coin we sold into the bank for us later. This is just an idea. I would like to here what everyone else thinks about this without getting into the details of the bank account and all that. I just wanted to see if I could get people to understand where I am coming from and maybe agree with me.

Would this be a seperate fund from the site donation or would it be in addition too??

Firstly, I'm a strong supporter of GCM.org. I had lots to say prior to GCM.org being "formally" organized and I'm still a strong supporter. These forums and its members encompass everything that is great about geocaching.

But;

Raising money without a purpose is a little unheard of. If GCM.org has agreed to purchase a banner, then I could see raising the money to pay for it. If GCM.org needs money for admin. cost or Public relations campaigns, then tacking on a surcharge to the coin is great idea. If the money was earmarked for something that was agreed upon by the board then I would be all for ensuring GCM.org has a cash flow.

Legally, I would think that when handling money or collecting money in the name of GeocachingMaine.org could open up another can of worms; incorporating, file taxes etc. etc. all of which I vaguely understand.

My take on things now are; we (gcm.org) wants something, we(gcm.org) agree to split the cost. The members aren't paying dues, the members donate their share of the web cost.

Their must be someone here who know far more about the laws pertaining to non-profit, clubs/organizations.

Rick, while I think having ready available funds is great idea, I think it will carry a new level of organizational responsibilities that GCM.org may or may not want. Would hate to see you ar anyone here get into tax trouble or other legal trouble when I know that all you want to do is make GCM.org a great place and organization.

Opposed

I would be opposed to having a geocachingmaine.org "tax" on the coins or on any generalized fundraising effort on the part of geocachingmaine.org other than covering the expenses for the web site.

If there is a fund available, then we have the issue of how to disburse the funds - who should get the money, how much, when, etc. Dare I say we'd need a policy about the funds? And no matter how the money is spent (as well-meaning as the committee that determines the disbursements might be), there will always be folks who disagree with how/when/who.

If there is a need for a geocachingmaine.org banner or any other geocachingmaine.org-related item, a request should be posted and I'll bet there are some that'll make that happen. Perhaps a wish-list is in order somewhere on the site...

If there are expenses related to an event, ask for a donation from the attendees.

That said, I'd be less opposed if there were a geocachingmaine.org association in some legal way, with a checking account, tax ID, etc. and a full accounting of funds published on a regular basis or on demand. But I'm pretty sure that's where folks don't want to head...

Well being member of the board or past member , don't know what I am at the moment ,I brought the subject up a couple of times about getting a banner of sorts to bring to events and such. I agree with both TRF and Kayakerme that if we need something then the thing to do would be to just post it on the website and I'm sure others will step up to the plate with donations to make it happen. Hey Kayakerme has already offered a donation of 25 bux towards a banner and that is a good start, it's probably 1/4 of what it takes to get one made from the sites I visited to get an estimate of having one made up.I think there are too many legal ramifications to having a bunch of money kicking around and on one to be responsible to make sure of it's uses. Just my thoughts from down south.

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Yeah, I agree with most of the tax and income comments, it would not be fun to go there. I would also hesitate to have a "sales tax" on an item funding something else that not everyone would want to support themselves. Better to take donations for a specific thing from those that DO want to support it than tax everybody else.

If the coin sale goes well, there will be extra money. I was conservative on the pricing this year (as the coin frenzy seems to have abated somewhat) and the price represents 500 coins being sold. The price is fair to the coin purchaser as it represents the cost of the coin (no club tax), but if we get to 1000 there is a price break and that could be put into a pot. We still have about $60 in the bank from the last coin sale that I was putting into this years coin to reduce the price slightly. If there is money left after this one, we could use it for a banner or other things instead of paying forward to the next coin.

I posted that I think this money should be totally separate from the web site donation money. It would not be used for people holding personal events. It would only be used for purchases of things that would be used for Geocaching Maine. I used the banner as an example because the banner could be used at all events and at other places other then events. I could think up a few more things if need be. The idea would be that it could not be used towards the web site or towards personal events, this way people could not ask for money to help with there events. It would not be a lot of money right now seeing it would only be $1 per coin, but over time it would add up. It is not intended for personal use or gain.

As I said I just wanted to here opinions on putting money aside without getting into the details of the bank account and all that, but I should have known that somehow it would have turned into people worrying about taxes where to put the money, who would take care of it, how to distribute it. I only wanted the questions answered as to whether we should start putting money aside. I have found we have to make one decision at a time with this group. It will be just like the coin thing we started the first time. If we talk about all the legal things about it then it will never get done. Look how long it took to get our first coin done.

I hear ya. I personally think it's best to raise money for a specific item and independent of what might be considered "profit" from a separate item. It appears too much like income, whether it is or not. Also, people buying one item (a coin) might have no interest in funding something else with their purchase (a banner), especially if they are geocachers from another state for example. I think if you put money aside it would be better to do as a fundraiser with a specific goal and progress bar and not raised as "revenue" from a sale of something else. That's merely my opinion of course.

Arron, I see where you coming from. I was looking at it like this. It is always the same people that donate or contribute to the pot when money is needed. If we added $1 to the coin that would elevate that. I don't think it is fair that the same people contribute all the time.